"What fake news are you talking about?"
Kiana showed little reaction as she spoke to her, quietly calculating in her heart the odds of taking her down.
"Why would I go looking for him out of the blue?" Kiana said lightly. She knew that bringing up Siegfried so suddenly was meant to shake her resolve.
The words of an enemy...
Whether true or false, she had no interest in hearing them.
She believed Theresa knew the truth, and that she would tell her eventually. If she wasn't saying anything now, she must have her reasons.
Although Kiana didn't agree and desperately wanted to know the truth as soon as possible, she did not want to hear it from an enemy.
"Out of the blue... heh, interesting. Looks like you've forgotten all about those things."
Forgotten?
The background setting of this trial seemed far more complicated than it first appeared.
Herta could tell at a glance that Cocolia had ill intentions. Kiana likely saw it as well.
"Theresa has always been hiding the truth about Siegfried from you, hasn't she?" Cocolia's smile carried a trace of malice. "Or perhaps you're still clinging to the naive hope that one day she'll tell you this so-called 'truth.'"
"Stop wasting your breath. No matter what you say, it's useless. Do you think I'd believe the words of an enemy?"
She knew nothing of Cocolia's true strength or what trump cards she might still hold. Standing here quietly listening was merely a way to stall for time.
She trusted that Theresa and Acheron would arrive soon. Fighting alone carried the risk of letting her escape. Together, there would be no such risk.
"Theresa will never tell you the truth, because... Siegfried has been dead for a long time."
Kiana's heart did not stir in the slightest, as if she hadn't heard the words at all.
"Don't believe me? Or do you think I'm lying? No, no, I have no reason to lie to you... monster."
What did she just call her?
Monster?
Kiana's thoughts paused for a moment. Though confused, she kept her expression calm and did not relax her guard.
"Speaking of which, the Second Herrscher hidden beneath this church has some connection to you."
"Interested in taking a look?"
"Don't you want to know the truth? The memory you've forgotten?"
What connection could that person possibly have with her?
Someone she knew?
Herta watched Cocolia in confusion. What was the point of telling Kiana all this?
"I won't believe a single word you say, butcher. Don't think you can slip away from me!"
Both Honkai Eruptions had been triggered because of Cocolia. The number of people who had died indirectly at her hands was beyond counting.
This woman was steeped in unforgivable crimes.
She absolutely could not be allowed to leave. Otherwise, something like this might happen again, and that would bring yet another disaster.
"Looks like you're not interested in the truth at all. Then again, you're just a monster wearing human skin. You killed your own father with your own hands. Putting on a show of grief is enough for you. Why would you want to know that cruel truth?"
"Perhaps it's precisely because you don't want to know the truth that you deliberately forgot the fact that your hands are already stained with blood."
Flames of anger flashed through Kiana's azure eyes. She raised her gun and aimed it at Cocolia. "What nonsense are you spouting?!"
"Look. This is the answer you've been searching for all along, and the fact Theresa will never tell you." Cocolia spoke slowly. "You killed your own father with your own hands."
"You think this will make me lose control?!" Kiana's voice trembled with fury as she gritted her teeth. "You're not getting away, Cocolia!"
"Is the truth really as I've said? Do you dare to uncover it?"
Cocolia let out a low chuckle, then turned decisively and walked back through the door. Watching her figure disappear beyond it, Kiana's expression darkened as she followed.
There was only one exit.
She wanted to see what this bastard was really trying to do.
"Killed her own father?" Herta frowned as she followed at Kiana's side, speculating. "So that's the background setting? Because of her becoming a Herrscher?"
The passage leading underground was brightly lit.
Suppressing her anger, Kiana followed cautiously behind. She did not believe Cocolia's words, yet Theresa's insistence that she must never enter the underground area made her suspect there truly was some hidden secret there.
And that it was related to her.
Monster...
That was what Cocolia had called her.
But why?
Her expression grew increasingly grim as she followed Cocolia to the laboratory at the very end of the underground corridor.
At a glance, she saw a girl.
Aside from the girl, there seemed to be nothing else of note here. That girl must be the so-called Second Herrscher.
Without hesitation, Cocolia walked to the corpse, lowered her gaze to the girl lying there, and sneered. "Do you remember what happened the year Siegfried went missing?"
Kiana did not respond. She maintained a relatively safe distance while curiously studying the purple-haired girl.
There was nothing particularly special about her.
Why had Auntie forbidden her from coming here?
"Heh. Don't want to answer? Or are you avoiding it? Then let me ask another question. Do you remember why you left Schicksal?"
Why she left Schicksal?
Kiana's gaze darkened slightly. "Because of our ideals."
"Ideals? Hahaha. So that's the memory they implanted in you? How interesting."
Kiana frowned. "What do you mean?"
Cocolia looked at her with pity. "How pitiful, Kiana. What does it feel like to live inside a dream woven by others?"
"You think making up vague, ambiguous lies will disrupt my thoughts and buy you time?"
"Made up? Hahaha. What is made up, and what is real? Don't worry, Kiana. I'm in a good mood today. I don't mind giving you a little hint."
As she spoke, the curve of Cocolia's lips slowly flattened. She looked at Kiana coldly. "You say you left Schicksal because your ideals differed. Then can you recall the details? What exactly caused the disagreement? How did you plan your escape? Who pursued you? And how did you ultimately survive?"
"Of course I—"
Kiana was about to say she remembered, but the words caught in her throat as fragmented images flickered through her mind.
She and her father had indeed been hunted.
But the reason?
What happened afterward?
How had it been resolved?
"Do you feel like some parts are blurry? Like things don't quite line up?" Cocolia sneered. "Research into artificial Herrschers did not begin with Anti-Entropy. You probably didn't know that, did you? As early as decades ago, Schicksal had already excavated materials from the Previous Era regarding artificial Herrschers and conducted more than one experiment on them."
Why was it artificial Herrscher technology again?
Herta's expression darkened. That term kept surfacing in this trial, dragging her thoughts back to the Previous Era—when those people had used that very technology to turn the tables on her.
Who would have thought that something she had developed so casually would still be influencing this trial?
Was that technology really so fascinating?
Did these people have no ideas of their own?
Could they do nothing but copy her work?
"That's right. Just as you're thinking."
"Come to think of it, what I did was something I learned from Schicksal. Babylon Tower—surely that name isn't unfamiliar to you? The cradle of the Second Herrscher, and the place where your mother, Cecilia, died in battle."
"Trial and error, over and over. That Dr. Herta from the Previous Era truly was a remarkable genius. Even the fragments she left behind were enough to drive people mad."
"Babylon Tower was where Schicksal researched artificial Herrscher technology. Under the banner of treating Honkai sickness, posing as a medical institution, they deceived countless unsuspecting people and conducted experiment after experiment on them."
"The Second Herrscher was the flower that bloomed from those piled bones." Cocolia glanced at the corpse of the Second Herrscher. "A flower born of humanity's sins—one that ultimately turned its thorns against humanity."
"So what?" Kiana forced herself to remain outwardly calm, her voice edged with ridicule. "You, who triggered two Honkai Eruptions and gave rise to two Herrschers, are suddenly angry about Babylon Tower? Who are you putting on this performance for?"
Shifting the blame onto Schicksal—claiming she had merely followed Babylon Tower's example, that she wasn't the first to do it—did that somehow lessen her sins?
What a joke.
Cocolia offered no explanation. She merely cast Kiana a faint glance. "The Second Herrscher wasn't truly an artificial Herrscher. In fact, you could say she had nothing to do with 'artificial' at all. At most, they provided the soil from which a Herrscher could be born. And so, from evil, a Herrscher emerged."
"It was a failed experiment. At the time, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy paid a tremendous price to kill the Second Herrscher. Your mother, Anti-Entropy's leader, and many others you know—and many you don't—died in that global catastrophe."
"After suffering such a painful lesson, do you think Schicksal abandoned its research into artificial Herrschers?"
Kiana frowned.
She had never heard of artificial Herrschers within Schicksal. St. Freya had little contact with headquarters, and what contact there was usually went through Theresa.
"The answer is... of course not."
Cocolia smiled. "With the core left behind by the Second Herrscher, they conceived a mad idea. Since incomplete records weren't enough to manufacture an artificial Herrscher, why not take a different approach? If they directly implanted a Herrscher Core into a human body, wouldn't that create a controllable Herrscher, like those of the Previous Era?"
Bit by bit, the darker side of Schicksal was laid bare. Kiana felt a wave of nausea.
"And so they began a new line of research—how to use a Herrscher Core to forge a controllable Herrscher who would fight for humanity."
"The first issue to consider was Honkai energy resistance. How many outstanding Valkyries do you think died back then?"
Kiana had already guessed part of it. Her face turned grim. "What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Don't be impatient. Listen." Cocolia continued, "Driven by that ambition, a Schicksal already crippled by losses sacrificed another batch of elite Valkyries. In the end, they set their sights on a certain girl."
"Because she was the child born to Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie and the head of the Kaslana family. From birth, she possessed Honkai adaptability far beyond anyone else."
"If you're going to make things up, at least make them plausible. I have no memory of anything you're saying!"
Cocolia went on as if she hadn't heard her. "At first, the experiment was a success. While the poor father was drowning in grief over his wife's death, they secretly took the child and implanted the Herrscher Core into her body. Thanks to her extraordinary Honkai adaptability, the girl survived."
Listening to the story, Herta couldn't help frowning. Was that even possible? She had made Kiana attempt something similar before—and the result had been instant death.
"By the time that pitiful father realized what had happened, the experiment was already nearing its end."
A suffocating pressure built in Kiana's chest. A sharp ache throbbed at her temples. "Why don't you switch careers and become a storyteller? I'm sure you'd be very popular."
"Rage nearly consumed that father's reason. He had lost his wife, and now his daughter had been used as well. It completely enraged him. So that man, who had once dedicated himself to protecting humanity and fighting the Honkai, turned his weapon on his former comrades. Alone, he stormed the laboratory, snatched back his child, and fought his way out of Schicksal."
"Listen to it. What a moving story."
"Are you trying to make me hate Schicksal?" Kiana stared at Cocolia coldly.
"No, no. The story isn't over yet." Cocolia smiled. "That man lived like a rat on the run with his daughter, hiding in a small northern town."
"Did fate show them mercy?"
"Heh. Obviously not."
"The girl who had been implanted with a Herrscher Core turned into a monster without emotion or reason. She slaughtered everyone in that small town with her own hands—including the pursuing Valkyries from Schicksal... and her own father."
Kiana pressed her lips tightly together, her chest rising and falling violently. She wanted nothing more than to smash her fist into Cocolia's hateful face and shut her up.
But a faint voice echoed in the depths of her heart.
What if she's telling the truth?
"Take a look at her. Look at the Second Herrscher—tormented by Schicksal in life and denied peace even in death. A part of her was once fused into your body." Cocolia stepped aside. "Look at her. Perhaps you'll remember something."
Kiana felt as though she had split in two. One half insisted that everything Cocolia said was fabricated, nothing but lies. The other half whispered—what if?
Almost unconsciously, she stepped closer.
She stared at the corpse, which showed not the slightest sign of decay. She did not question why so much time had passed without reinforcements arriving.
"Look at her. Memorize her face. Next, I'll take you to find her Herrscher Core. Once you find that core, you'll know whether what I've said is true or false."
Cocolia's true objective was the Second Herrscher's core. She wanted to replicate Schicksal's past experiment.
Was that her ultimate goal?
Kiana stared at the purple-haired girl's body. Somewhere deep within her, a sensation she had never felt before began to flow.
Almost instinctively, she raised her hand.
Her fingertips lightly brushed the girl's icy cheek. It was only the simplest of touches—
But it triggered an unforeseen upheaval.
A surge of overwhelming Honkai energy erupted from Kiana's body. The shockwave of released power sent Cocolia flying backward. Kiana's eyes widened as, amid the agony of the Honkai eruption, scene after scene of forgotten memories flooded back into her mind.